1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention generally is related to the processing of soft or sticky food products and, more precisely, is related to a preparatory treatment of such food products performed before and simplifying the processing thereof, especially the processing of the food products by air on a foraminous conveyor belt,
2. Prior Art
Many food products being processed in the food industry are soft or sticky in the initial state of the processing. Dough for making bread, batter for batter cakes and marinated chicken parts are examples of such soft or sticky food products. Therefore, it often is necessary to use carriers, e.g. pans, plates and trays, which are designed to support the food products during the processing.
These carriers prolong the processing time. Further, when the processing is performed at several separate processing stations, the transferring of the food products between the stations is complicated as a result of the carriers. Also, the carriers prevent processing of food products produced in continuous lengths. Finally, if the carriers are recycled after the completion of the processing of the food products, they often need to be cleaned as they do not always prevent loss of food product.